Extrapolation of Infection Data for the CoVid-19 Virus and Estimate of the Pandemic Time Scale

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Abstract

Predictions about the further development of the Corona pandemic are widely diverging. Here, a simple yet powerful algorithm is introduced for extrapolating infection rate and number of total infections from available data. The calculation predicts that under present conditions the infection rate in Germany will culminate in a few weeks and decrease to low values by mid-June 2020. Total number of infections will reach several 100000 though. A refinement of the calculation is presented in the supplemental material and shows that the lock down in Germany has reduced the total number of infections from a target value of 338 000 to 184 000, corresponding to a decrease of about 45%.

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  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2020.03.26.20044081: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    NIH rigor criteria are not applicable to paper type.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    A function for fitting the logarithm of the reported figures of total infection rates is defined by

    For the fit of equation (1) to the data points, the standard solver in Microsoft Excel 2016 was applied to the logarithm of the number N(t) of confirmed infections as taken in steps of one day from the website [1], and the least squares error with respect to equation (1) was minimized by varying the three parameters ln(N(t = 0)), ln(N(t → ∞)), and τ.

    Microsoft Excel
    suggested: (Microsoft Excel, RRID:SCR_016137)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).


    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.


    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.


    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.


    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

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